Demands by English-speaking citizens who claim to be marginalized by the French-speaking legal and education system have morphed into secessionist violence

A conference dealing with the crisis in the Cameroon’s English-speaking region aims to find a solution to the secessionist crisis that has split the northwest and southern regions of the nation for two years.

The conference will be held on Nov. 21-22 in Douala, Cameroon's largest city and its economic capital.

“We are seeking to answer one single question. What are the causes of the problem in English-speaking Cameroon and what are the possible solutions?” retired archbishop of Douala, Cardinal Christian Tumi, told the press on Nov. 14.

Originally from Kikaikelaki in the north west region, Cardinal Tumi is currently working with Christian and Muslim religious leaders from the English-speaking zones in the northwest and southwest to identify a solution to a crisis that has already lasted for many months.

Putting an end to the conflict

Earlier, on July 25, Cardinal Tumi called for a conference of English-speakers, both from inside the country and the diaspora, to be held at Buea in the south westregion on Aug. 29-30.

The initiative received backing from Pastor Babila George Fochang of the Cameroon Presbyterian Church, Imam Tukur Mohammed Adamu from Central Mosque in Bamenda, and the Chief Imam Alhadji Mohammed Aboubakar from the Central Mosque in Buea.

The Christian and Muslim leaders also announced that they were ready to play a role as facilitators between the government and the secessionists.

“The moment has come to put an end to the conflict through a frank, inclusive and complete dialogue on the English-speaking issue,” the religious leaders stated, deploring the damage caused by the conflict.

However the governing party, the Democratic Assembly of the Cameroonian People (RDPC), immediately rejected the proposal.

“This initiative was organized in the context of the presidential election on Oct. 7,” the party claimed via Jean Simon Ongola, an RDPC parliamentarian writing in the Cameroon daily newspaper, Le jour.

“While the stated objectives of the conference are praiseworthy and desired by all Cameroonians, the political maneuvering and the hidden agenda that flow from it are linked by a common thread,” he said.

Soon after, it was announced that the conference had been postponed sine die (with no future date).

Expected implications

The announcement of the new date for the conference comes three weeks after the publication of the results of the presidential election, which re-elected Paul Biya for a seventh term.

Cameroonian religious leaders are also expected to be involved in the resolution as requested by local civil society organizations and several observers.

Several weeks ago, a report by the International Crisis Group estimated that “given Yaoundé’s opposition to any international mediation, the Catholic Church is virtually the only actor in a position to intervene and promote dialogue between the government and the English-speaking regions.”

In addition, the National Episcopal Conference of the Cameroon previously offered to mediate and had called for dialogue.

Daily confrontations

More than 200,000 Cameroonians have fled the English-speaking regions to take refuge in Nigeria and other nations of the region since the beginning of the crisis.

This began in 2016 in the wake of demands by English-speaking lawyers and teachers, who claimed to have been marginalized and dominated by the French-speaking legal and education system that prevails throughout the country.

Their protests led to a series of strikes that morphed into a series of deadly confrontations between Cameroonian security forces and supporters of secession by the English-speaking regions.

Confrontations in the English-speaking regions are now taking place on a daily basis, causing many deaths. But it has been difficult to establish the exact number of victims killed since the beginning of the crisis.

Religious leaders have not escaped unscathed, either. Charles Wesco, a Baptist missionary, was killed on Oct. 30 in a confrontation between loyalist forces and secessionists at Bamenda in the northwest.

Catholic seminarian, Gérard Anjiangwe, was killed on Oct. 4, while Father Alexandre Sob Nougi, parish priest of Bomaka in the southwest, was killed in July. In each incident, the priests were murdered by unidentified armed individuals.

Ninety students from a Protestant school in Bamenda in the northwest were also abducted by kidnappers on Oct. 31. The captors demanded the closure of the school before freeing the hostages several hours later.

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